Sky lookout chair



p 4, 1957 D. A. LEWIS, JR 2,807,089

' SKY LOOKOUT CHAIR Filed Aug. 31, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmvron.

00mm 4- law/s Jk. BY 12 mob, @wx/ Arrwwvsys {4 i mi 19 20 Ill 9 Sept. 24, 1957 D. A. LEWIS, JR

SKY LOOKOUT CHAIR Filed Aug. 31, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Se t. 24, 1957 D. A. LEWIS, JR

SKY LOOKOUT CHAIR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 31, 1954 INVENTOR. 00mm A. [Ems uk BY W,

Arr-0e r5 2,807,089 Patented Sept. 24, 1957 Unitedsmtes Patent fifl This invention relates to improvements in sky lookout chairs, and has reference particularly to the mounting of binoculars in such manner as to promote comfort, convenience and efficiency of the operator in making altitude observations. The invention constitutes an improvement over my copending application Serial No. 374,960, filed August 18, I. t 's i In the invention of the "latter is hinged at itslo'werend to the chairs'eat. Atth'e upper end of'the back there is a transverse shaft upon which is oscillatably mounted a sector shaped yoke with dial graduations, this yoke being pivotally connected with the chair application the eha'ir back by a link parallel to the chair back and of the same length as the spacing between the chair hinge and the said shaft. The arm which carries thebinoculars is fixed to the said shaft and carries a pointer which 'moves over theface of thedi'al a'sthearm swings upwardly brdowilwaridly with I the shaft as its axis. When a chair' of such construction is One of the objects of the invention therefore is the-provision of means under the control of the operator for mov ng the binocular carrier downwardly toward the supporting arm and rearwardly for the convenience and com;-

fort of the'oper'ato'r when making'altitude observations near the zenith. n

Another object -is theprovision ofa mounting for the binocular ca'r'r'ier'which comprises parallel-links of'eq'ual length pivotally connected with the" supporting arm; whereby the binoculars are maintained 'in a constant angular relation to the arm during different positions of adjustment. v I

Still another object is the provision of depending handle means pivotally mounted on the arm for swinging the parallel links toward and away from the arm, said means comprising operating connections which enable movement of the handle rearwardly to produce rearwardmove ment of the links.

Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the description of that embodiment of the I,

invention which, for the purposes ofthe present applican, I; have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which}, i- 1" if Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sky lookout chair embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevationof. .the same, certain of the of various de'signs. The chair illustrated herein comprises a tubular metal standard 10 which may be welded to a metal element ll of a ship s deckfl Upon t his standard thereis mountedby' means ofm etal' brackets'lz a ring IS-cQnstituting a rest .forthe feetofthe operator and affording a'kick'ririg again'stfwhieh the operator may push to propel' the chair around to any"desir'e"d position for making azimuth-observations. Thisri'ngis preferably built as illustrated in Fig. 3, that is it comprises-a re'- entrant loop 14 and two radial braces 15, enabling the ring to be assembled upon or removed from the standard, the loop portion having holes therethrough to take the upwardly projecting arms of the brackets which are threaded to receive nuts 16 for securing the ring in place.

A disk 17 is fixedly mounted on the standard 10. Its outer edge is beveled and is provided with two oppositely disposed azimuth scales. -In the hollow standard there is rotatably mounted a chair post 18, antifriction bearings being 'prefe' rably provided to maintain the post in accurate'alignmentwfih 'thefixedstandard: 10 while permitting free-relative rotation. A'ball bearing 9 takes endwise'thr i tf ii: if: I. it.

Mounted upon the post 18 there is anin'vertedchannel 19, at both ends of which there are arms 20 with ends inclined downwardly at the same angle as-the'beveled edge of the disk 17.; Each of these inclined ends is provided with a horizontally elongated window and a pointer 21 for cooperation withone o'fthe'azimuth dials, see

' A chair seat 22' i 's" ou' nted one "suitable frame-23, and the latter isjrigidly attached 'to the uppferend ofrotatable post 18, the parts "18 and 23- thus' tu'rnifigtog'etherj The chair back is hinged at its lower end to the-"chair seat. As shown herein the back comprises upstanding-side frame bars 25, which are preferably tubular, a tubular upper rail 26 and two tubular lower rails 27 and 28. The upstanding side' frame bars 25 at their lower ends are welded or otherwise attached to'sl eev'es '2-9fix hi'eh are oscillatable on a shaft'38. Sleeves 30 are 'secur'ed to the rear ends of the seat fra'memembers 23', and in these sleeves the shaft 38 is fixed.

-Bo lted'to theseatbackthereis a fl 'ge H v the lower end of whi'ch is; entforwardly asshown' Fig. 1. 'A' b'olt 31% depends from the "for wai d en of channel 31 and extends sli'dably'throiighia'cefiti U verse holein a horizontal pivot pin 32 which extendsbe:'- tween bearings in the two rear branches of the'frame '23 for oscillation about a transverse axis. A coil spring 32 surrounds bolt 31 below pin 32 and bears at its lower end against a nut 33 threaded onto thelowerendof-tlie bolt. The force of the spring can be varied by'adjus'tmentof this nut. 4 The chair back is thus' 'held 'yieldably' in the vertical po'sitionillustrated in fullli'nes'ifn Fig Arm rests 34 are carried by"sleeVe'sSS wh'icli may be adjusted upand down on the sidebars 25,-"a n'd a bac-k cushion 36 is supported partly upon the sidebars 25 and partly upon the tublil afupp er rail 26.-

The'shaft 38 extendshroiih' the sleeves '29 at the bottom of the back frame andthrough the sleeves 30' at the rear of the seat frame. It projects laterally beyond the chair in bothdi'rections. This shaft is fixed against rotation in the sleeves 30 that constitute part of the seat frame. In the tubular upper rail 26 there is a similar shaft 39. which also projects laterally to the same extent as the shaft 38.. However, shaft 39 is freely rotatable in the tubular rail 26. As shown in Fig. Smeans are provided to limit the extent to'whi'ch the seat back may-be swung rearwardl m-rea "this purpose a pin 40 driven mounted on the shaft and carrying yokes 45. A link 46 is pivotally connected at 47 with yoke 45 and at 48 with yoke 42. The distance between shaft 39 and pivot 47 is the same as that between shaft 38 and piv'oti48.; :Likewise the link 46 has thesame effective length asthe side bars 25 of the back frame. Consequently, at eachside of the chair there is a parallelogram consisting of the parts 25, 42, 46 and 45, the yokes 42 remaining fixed and the other parts of the parallelogram being movable, as indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 1. The yokes 45 are sector shaped and are provided with altitude gauge markings with which cooperate pointers 50 fixedon each extremity of shaft 39. i i M 7 n 1 i Pinned to the shaft 39 atone side of thechair there is a curved arm l which extends around in front of the chair and is disposed-in a substantiallyhorizontal plane when the parts are in the normal position of Fig. l. A forwardly extending plate 52 is secured to arm 51 by a pin 53, Fig. 4, or other suitablevmeans, the center line of this plate being disposed in the plane through the arm .51 and the shaft 39. At the forward end of plate 52 there is pivoted at 55 a two-part link 56, the parts of which straddle the plate 52. A single part link 57 0f the same length as link 56 is pivoted at 58 to the plate 52. At their upper ends the links 56 and 57 arepiyoted to a plate or bar which I term a carrier 59. The spacing of the upper ends of the links on carrier 59 is the same as the distance between pivots 55 and 58. Hence the parts 52, 59, 56 and 57 constitute a parallelogram, thepart 52 of which is fixed with respect to arm 51 while the other parts are movable with respect to that arm.

On the pivot 58 there is fixed a gear 60 which meshes with a somewhat larger gear 61 that is pinned to a shaft 62 which is rotatably mounted in plate 52. Shaft 62 extends outwardly a short distance from plate 52 and is then .turned downwardly as indicated at 63 and provided with a handle 64 disposed in front of the operator where it may be conveniently grasped by his right hand. 1

The binoculars 65 are removably secured to the carrier 59, preferably by means of a mounting slide 66 to which the binoculars are clamped at 67, the slide 66 being mov ableforwardly andbackwardly and held in adjusted position by clamping screw 68.

It will be obvious that when the operator swings the handle 64 toward himself and toward the plane of arm 51, the gears 61 and 60 will'be rotated and will transmit motion through link 57 to cause the movable parts of parallelogram 52,59, 56, 57' to move rearwardly toward the plane of arm 51. By this means the height of the binoculars may be adjusted to accommodate them to the stature of operators of different height.

To take a low altitude reading the operator swings the arm 51 upwardly ordownwardly by means of handle 64, this being accomplished with ease in view of the fact that the arm and parts associated therewith are counterbalanced by a tension spring 70, the lower end of which is anchored in a bracket 71clamped to one of the frame side members 25 and the upper end of which is attached to a rearwardly extending bracket 72 on the shaft 39.

The downturned end 63 of shaft 62 may have a clamp 74 mounted thereon, just above handle 64, carrying a pivoted lever 75 which may be used to operate a control. As shown herein this lever operates a flexible wire 76 in a hollow cable 77 which may extend along the arm 51 and downwardly to a brake 78 of any suitable character mounted in the inverted channel 19 for braking engagement with disk 17. The brake may be set to hold the chair in a desired azimuth position and released when the chair is to be turned to a new azimuth position.

When an altitude reading is required of an object in the sky more or less near the zenith, the operator leans back, causing the chair back with associated parts to swing backwardly and downwardly against the action of counterbalancing spring 32 As he approaches the position shown in broken lines in Fig, 1, binoculars spaced from the plane of arm 51, as in the full line position of that figure, would necessitate a position of his head and neck that would be at least very uncomfortable, but by swinging the handle 64 toward the plane of arm 51 the links 56 and 57 are swung toward that plane, bringing the binoculars rearward to a convenient and comfortable position for use. Different degrees of inclination of links 56 and 57 may of course be employed by the operator to comfortably accommodate the apparatus to his use as the chair is swung to various positions between the full line and broken line positions illustrated.

The use of gears 61, 60, or equivalent means for enabling the operator to swingjthe handle 64 rearwardly in order to cause the links 516, 57 to swing downwardly and rearwardly, is a distinct advantage of the apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a sky lookout chair, a chair back hinged at its lower end, a horizontal oscillatable transverse shaft at the upper end of said back, said shaft carrying a pointer, a yoke at the upper end of said chair back carrying an altitude scale over which said pointer moves as the shaft turns, means associated with the chair back and dependent upon the movement of the back for maintaining said yoke in a constant angular position relative to said chair seat throughout all positions of the chair back, a binocular supporting arm fixed to said shaft, a binocular carrier, and means for turning said shaft and swinging said arm comprising means operable by one hand of the operator for swinging said arm vertically and moving said carrier toward or away from said arm while maintaining the carrier in a constant angular position relative to the arm.

2. A sky lookout chair as defined in claim 1, wherein the binocular carrier is connected to said arm by a pair of parallel links of equal length, and wherein the means .operable by one hand of the operator comprises a handle depending pivotally from the arm to swing backwardly and forwardly, said handle being operatively connected to one of said links, whereby the binocular carrier may be moved toward or away from the arm as the arm is swung vertically. 3. A sky lookout chair as defined in claim 2, comprising means interposed between said operatively connected link and said handle for swinging the links rearwardly toward said arm as the handle moves rearwardly toward the arm.

4. A sky lookout chair as defined in claim 3, wherein said operative connection comprises a pair of intermeshing gears one on said handle and one on said link, whereby the swinging of the handle rearwardly toward the .plane through the arm and its horizontal axis will swing the carrier toward the same plane. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,716,821 Karnes June 11, 1929 1,829,614 Schier Oct. 27, 1931 2,669,784 Lewis Feb. 23, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 129,742 Great Britain July 24; 1919 550,349 France Dec. 11, 1922 39,742 France Feb. 10, 1931 r (2d addition to No. 662,734) 

